Average Electric Bill in Arkansas
Residential · 12-month average, September 2025 – August 2026.
That works out to about $1,716 a year. Among the 50 states and DC, Arkansas has the 32nd highest average residential bill.
Data current through August 2026 — the latest available from the U.S. EIA, which publishes monthly figures on a roughly two-month delay.
What makes up the bill
Price × usage = bill, exactly: 13.56¢/kWh × 1,054 kWh ≈ $143. A state can land high on either factor — Arkansas pays below the national rate but uses much more power than average.
Compared with nearby states
| Arkansas | $143 | |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. average | $158 | |
| Texas | $179 | |
| Mississippi | $174 | |
| Tennessee | $163 | |
| Louisiana | $158 | |
| Oklahoma | $148 | |
| Missouri | $147 |
Arkansas is $15 a month below (-9.7%) the U.S. average of $158. Neighboring states share fuel mixes, weather, and often a grid operator, which makes them a closer benchmark than the national average.
Trend since 2008
Each point is a trailing 12-month average, which strips out the summer/winter swing and leaves the underlying trend. Bills start in January 2008 because that is when EIA began reporting customer counts.
Seasonal swing
- Highest month
- $217
- August 2026
- Lowest month
- $101
- November 2025
- Swing
- $116
- peak minus low
- Latest month
- $217
- August 2026
Actual bills are far from flat: Arkansas peaks in August 2026 and bottoms out in November 2025. The headline figure above is the average across all twelve months.
Arkansas electricity bills in context
The average monthly electricity bill in Arkansas is $143, ranking 32nd among the 50 states and DC. This bill is $15 below the national average of $158, driven by a combination of lower prices and higher usage. Residents pay 13.56¢/kWh compared with the national rate of 18.07¢/kWh, and they consume 1,054 kWh per month against the national average of 876 kWh, so the lower rate pulls the bill down while the higher consumption pulls it up. The rate advantage prevails, leaving Arkansas well below the national figure.
Over the past year, the bill rose 5.7%, from $135 to $143. Over the five years since August 2021, it has climbed 19.1%, and since December 2008 it has grown 39.2%. Seasonality is pronounced in Arkansas. The bill peaks at $217 in August 2026 and falls to $101 in November 2025, a swing of $116 around the twelve-month average of $143.
Among neighbouring states, Arkansas has the second-lowest bill. Oklahoma at $148 and Missouri at $147 are slightly higher, while Tennessee at $163, Louisiana at $158, Mississippi at $174, and Texas at $179 all exceed it by a wider margin.
Written from the EIA figures on this page, covering data through August 2026.
Frequently asked questions
›How much is the average electric bill in Arkansas?
›Is the electric bill in Arkansas higher than the national average?
›Why is electricity relatively cheap in Arkansas?
›When is the electric bill highest in Arkansas?
›How does Arkansas compare with neighboring states?
How this is calculated
EIA’s retail-sales dataset reports, for every state and month, total residential revenue and the number of residential customers served. The average monthly bill is simply the first divided by the second — total spending across all households, spread evenly over all accounts.
bill = revenue ÷ customers · averaged over 12 months (September 2025 – August 2026)
Two caveats worth knowing. It is an average, so it blends apartments with large houses — a typical household in Arkansas may pay well above or below $143. And it counts what was actually billed for electricity, including fixed service charges, so it is not the same as multiplying your own usage by the advertised rate.
Looking for the rate rather than the bill? See Arkansas electricity prices by sector.